Then & Now: Sixth and Main streets, 1959

Then & Now: Sixth and Main, 1959

When Notre Dame came to Purdue for its matchup against the Boilermakers on Oct. 3, 1959, local police knew that managing the traffic converging on the two cities would be a big job. With the construction of the new Harrison Bridge necessitating the closure of North River Road, police did their best to ease unavoidable congestion at the bottom and top of State Street hill in West Lafayette. Traffic from Main Street Bridge and Brown Street Bridge converged on State Street.

This scene shows police directing traffic at the intersection of Sixth and Main streets in downtown Lafayette in an effort to relieve congestion during Purdue's football game against Notre Dame. Also, this 1959 photo gives a peek into a more bustling era for the south side of the 600 block of Main Street.

Long before the parking lot that exists today at 631 Main St. was created, the downtown space housed the Main Theater, Puritan Coney Island, Kittle's Furniture, Karmelkorn, Lafayette Cafe, Maurie Bennett Music and others. The Hook building at 601 Main St, housed Bartlett Drug, as well as a recruiting office for the Navy and Marines.

A fire destroyed the Main Theater along with the Smith-Alsop Paint Store and 33 years of Credit Bureau records in January 1963. By 1964 the building that once housed the Luna Theater, 629 Main St,, was set to be razed, and Puritan Coney Island and Kittle's Furniture had made successful moves to the north side of the block.

Purdue surprised Notre Dame that day with a 28-7 win, after Notre Dame's famed shillelagh, a traditional symbol of rivalry between the two schools, mysteriously disappeared at the press party in a local hotel. Comedian Bob Hope and Sen. John F. Kennedy were in attendance for the afternoon's matchup. Between the football game and a Saturday night performance, Bob Hope was initiated into honorary membership in Purdue's Delta Upsilon fraternity chapter after being an honorary pledge for 11 years.

Police direct traffic at the intersection of Sixth and Main streets in an effort to relieve congestion during Purdue's football game against Notre Dame on Oct. 3, 1959.
2014 photo by Thomas Maxfield/Journal & Courier

Police direct traffic at the intersection of Sixth and Main streets in an effort to relieve congestion during Purdue's football game against Notre Dame on Oct. 3, 1959.(Photo: Thomas Maxfield/Journal & Courier)